Port Eliot dusk at the bar
Mar 1

Port Eliot festival 2018 – the first lineup

Pic­turesque Port Eliot fes­ti­val, set on the South East Cor­nish coast, has built a rep­u­ta­tion for its thought­ful­ly curat­ed line­up, a mix of music, com­e­dy, work­shops and talks. Food, fash­ion and lit­er­a­ture also fea­ture. The beau­ti­ful estate is buzzing from dawn to mid­night and beyond with a huge vari­ety of events, so one minute you…

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Big Snowball by Shirley Baker
Jan 31

Women, Children; and Loitering Men by Shirley Baker at Manchester Art Gallery

This is repost­ed from last year, as the exhi­bi­tion has just won Best Art Exhi­bi­tion at Man­ches­ter CityLife Awards. The cer­e­mo­ny was host­ed at The Deaf Insti­tute. From 19th May, Man­ches­ter Art Gallery will show the exhi­bi­tion Women, Chil­dren; and Loi­ter­ing Men, pho­tographs by Shirley Bak­er tak­en pri­mar­i­ly in the 1960s. Of Bak­er’s pro­lif­ic out­put, these photographs…

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django django at rough trade
Jan 28

Django Django Marble Skies at Rough Trade

Arty indie band Djan­go Djan­go show­cased their new album Mar­ble Skies at Rough Trade East. Their dis­tinc­tive sound is still there – the deep echo effects, the whoops, the har­monies – sun-dap­­pled and wist­ful, adding an inten­si­ty and beau­ty to their songs. And there’s always that com­pul­sive beat under­pin­ning their mate­r­i­al, almost forc­ing you to head…

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Jan 24

Sea Change festival adds Dartington Hall as a venue

Sea Change fes­ti­val in Totnes has estab­lished quite a name for itself in its two years of its exis­tence. Start­ed by Drift Record shop, its knowl­edge­able own­ers have enticed a raft of stel­lar names both emerg­ing and estab­lished, to play at a host of quirky venues around the town. There’s the restored Totnes Cin­e­ma, two…

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Dec 11

Lost Map: Pictish Trail Daylight Music at Union Chapel

The Day­light Music ses­sions at Union Chapel in Isling­ton are gen­tle, pay-what-you-like lunchtime con­certs with tea and cake. There are around 30 ses­sions per year. This Sat­ur­day was the turn of artists on the Lost Map record label run from the remote Hebridean island of Eigg by John­ny Lynch, who per­forms as Pic­tish Trail. Lynch and…

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Gil Landry at The Borderline
Nov 30

Gill Landry and Ian Felice at The Borderline

Gill Landry and Ian Felice at The Bor­der­line. The Bor­der­line used to be an endear­ing­ly scruffy lit­tle venue, not out of place amongst the shab­by streets around Soho. As devel­op­ment began in earnest, the base­ment venue became increas­ing­ly frag­ile look­ing so its smart over­haul in March this year is very wel­come, espe­cial­ly the cosy seating…

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electric alley
Oct 13

Deltiron festival in Cadiz

Things have been a bit qui­et at Gourmet Gigs while I’ve been vis­it­ing south­ern Spain. But as chance would have it, we were invit­ed to a local music fes­ti­val called Deltirón in the breezy, friend­ly coastal city of Cádiz. I swapped a life­time of damp fes­ti­vals on home turf for one with palm trees, enviably…

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Sep 19

Here We Are Burberry photo exhibition

There is bare­ly a moment, whether it be a fash­ion move­ment or a colour­ful cake, that does­n’t find itself Insta­grammed to death these days. How dif­fer­ent were those post-war decades as British soci­ety dust­ed itself down and embraced a chang­ing world – build­ings, fur­ni­ture, tribes, fash­ion, music, food and hol­i­days, so much was tempt­ing­ly on…

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Poster at The Trades Hebden Bridge
Sep 14

No talking please, I’m listening to the band

I post­ed this in 2017 but its mes­sage sad­ly rings truer than ever. “This is a place for music lovers. If you want to talk to your friends when the bands are on, please use the oth­er bar.” The above sign is plas­tered promi­nent­ly on the venue door at The Trades in Heb­den Bridge, York­shire, one of…

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